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UCLA Walks to Victory : Bruins: Despite a 64-44 win, the players and Harrick don’t think much of Arizona State’s slow-down tactics.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Bill Frieder, Arizona State’s hyperkinetic basketball coach, brought a barber in to cut his hair during his weekly news conference this week, explaining that he had no other time to get it trimmed.

On Thursday night, Frieder’s Sun Devils got clipped by UCLA, losing to the Bruins, 64-44, before 11,213 at Pauley Pavilion.

Frieder tried to prevent a scalping by slowing the pace.

“My biggest concern was their transition game,” said Frieder, defending the Sun Devils’ slowdown tactics. “We don’t have the size or the quickness or the athletes to run with them, so we decided to try this.

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“If we’d shot better, it might have been a little closer.”

It was the Sun Devils’ worst loss of the season.

So, what might have happened if Arizona State had opened it up?

“We would have got our (butt) beat,” Frieder said.

Perhaps, but it probably would have been more entertaining.

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick questioned Frieder’s strategy.

“When you put yourself in a position where you look for just one shot every time down, you put a lot of pressure on young kids,” Harrick said. “You’ve got to do it all year long. If you do it all year, you get accustomed to it, but you can’t do it for one game.

“They were never looking to shoot, and now, all of a sudden, (they have) got to shoot. I didn’t understand it.”

The Bruins’ leader, Don MacLean, didn’t appreciate it.

“I hate teams that try to do that,” MacLean said. “I felt like I was back in high school. You get all jacked up to play and then they hold the ball. It’s weak. But we got the ‘W’ and that’s all that matters.”

Tracy Murray adjusted well to the pace, leading the Bruins with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. MacLean scored 16 points, Shon Tarver scored 10 and reserve center Keith Owens, playing his best game in almost a month, had six points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes.

Improving to 17-5 overall and 5-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference, UCLA outshot the Sun Devils, 50% to 36.5%.

Arizona State (13-7, 4-6) got 11 points from freshman Jamal Faulkner.

Two weeks ago, Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery called Arizona State “the best man-to-man defensive team in the league.”

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And Harrick said of the Sun Devils this week: “They’re a sound team that can jump up and beat you on a given night, and that’s because of their defense. They’re very, very aggressive.”

But UCLA solved the Sun Devils’ defense last month, equaling a season high by making 65.2% of its shots in an 82-68 victory.

“We were just overmatched and not good enough,” Frieder said.

Harrick wondered if Arizona State would milk the clock in the rematch.

He found out soon enough.

“This stinks,” screamed an exasperated fan midway through the first half, when the score was tied, 9-9, and Arizona State, on its every possession, worked the shot clock inside 10 seconds before trying to score.

UCLA switched to a zone defense and Arizona State couldn’t shoot well enough to bring the Bruins out of it, making only 33.3% of its shots in the first half. Slowly, UCLA pulled away, building a 24-18 halftime lead.

The Bruins’ lead was only 26-22 with 16:25 left, when a technical foul against Frieder led to two free throws by MacLean, starting an 8-0 run by UCLA that took the cold-shooting Sun Devils out of the game.

MacLean scored on a baseline jump shot before a steal and no-look pass by Murray led to a dunk by Mitchell Butler, who then started a fast break with a spectacular block on a layup by Arizona State freshman Stevin Smith.

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Martin fed the ball ahead to Murray for a dunk.

UCLA’s lead was up to 34-22 and garbage time loomed.

On this night, though, garbage time was preferable to what preceded it, featuring a more wide-open, entertaining style.

Bruin Notes

UCLA has not allowed fewer points since a 45-second shot clock was adopted by college basketball in the 1985-86 season. . . . UCLA failed to make a three-point shot for the first time this season, misfiring on all six of its attempts. . . . Arizona State has shot worse only once this season, making 35.6% of its shots in a loss to UCLA last month at Tempe, Ariz.

UCLA Coach Jim Harrick, on the Bruins’ losses against Arizona, Oregon State and USC: “We feel we’ve lost these games, rather than been beaten. . . . We had the lead and the ball down the stretch and didn’t protect it. That’s why we got beat. We beat ourselves.” . . . UCLA was beaten on last-second shots by Arizona and Oregon State and lost by two points to USC.

Harrick chided UCLA students this week for cursing opposing players. “Let’s be a class act,” he told the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s campus newspaper. “No more expletives. . . . Class. Dignity. Quality. That’s what I’d like to see (in our) student section.” . . . UCLA’s game against Arizona Sunday at Pauley Pavilion has been sold out for about two months.

In support of U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf, UCLA wore American flags on its uniforms for the first time. A communication breakdown had kept them off until this week, Athletic Director Pete Dalis said. “We didn’t want the coaches to impose them on the players,” Dalis said, “but if the players want to wear them, that’s fine.” . . . UCLA plans to modernize Pauley Pavilion this summer, aligning the aisles in the loge and floor sections and making it possible to walk through the stands from street level to the arena floor.

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